Simulacrum
by Gallifrey Immigrant
Summary: The city's very existence seemed to hurt the Doctor.


I HATE IT I HATE IT BURN IT DOWN

"What's in your bonnet?" asked Donna. The Doctor's voice had been loud in her head, drowning out her thoughts.

He wasn't responding to her though. His eyes were gazing up at the city, and he looked like he was about to barf.

The city was beautiful. The sky was bright gold, and it felt to Donna like someone had brought a painting to life. There was a feeling of distance here, of something grand. When Donna had been a little girl, she had imagined living in a castle. She imagined that she was a princess of a large kingdom, and that the castle would have walls made of pure wonder, and that everyone in it would be happy , and wear large puffy costumes.

This city was like that. But even better.

People wore large gold headdesses casually as they walked around. A small boy was talking to what Donna assumed was his mother about what seemed to be quantum mechanics, and flying ships were overhead, as the walls contained advertisements for "Do you want to win a top-of-the-line regeneration?" The buildings seemed to be literally undulating with the wind, and the streets were clean est that Donna had ever seen.

It was too good to be true.

"Whoever did this," said the Doctor slowly, "will pay. Heavily."

"You've been here before?" asked Donna.

He said nothing, just walked forward.

Donna followed him deeper into the city. The streets were very clean, but they were long. Donna wished that she hadn't decided to wear her less comfortable shoes today, as the Doctor and she dodged the citizens of this city. Not everyone was wearing a headdress; some seemed to be wearing linen, or some kind of purple cloth. Donna could see, in the distance, a large building. It looked like a giant skyscraper with a spire at the top.

"Is that where we're going?" asked Donna. When the Doctor didn't respond, Donna stopped walking.

"Oi! I'm not walkingh again till you tell me what's going on!" said Donna.

At first, the Doctor seemed like he was going to leave her standing there. His stony glare almost scared Donna. Eventually, he rolled his eyes and walked over to her.

"This place isn't real. Well, it's real, but it's not...this is a copy of someplace I cherish very much. Someone brought my TARDIS here. Someone who must be mocking me, or wants me to suffer," said the Doctor.

He didn't offer any further explanation, beyond that.

"Hello, my dear Doctor," said a man behind the Doctor. He was a middle-aged man, who sported the meanest goatee Donna had ever seen. He was smiling, but in a way that reminded Donna of a con-man.

The Doctor stared at the man. He studied the man, looking up and down.

"Oh, I can assure you that I'm quite real. Unlike the rest of the people here," the man said, laughing loudly.

"Who are you?" asked Donna. The man brought his eyes to hers, and the man's face looked indignant.

"You never told the pet about me? Really, you deserve what's coming to you," said the man to the Doctor.

"Listen, mate. Call me 'pet' again, and I'll make you regret it," said Donna.

The man raised his hands in surrender, and said "I didn't mean any offense. I am the Master of this place. And you?"

"She's none of your business. Why did you bring me here?" asked the Doctor.

"Interrupting a conversation? How rude. Actually, this place was a simple test of my fundamental block computation abilities. All plans need a test run, even world domination."

"And you chose our homeworld as the test? You made a mockery of our homeworld!" said the Doctor. Donna could see an icy rage in his eyes.

"Yes. Hmm...this damages you somehow. Why?" asked the Master.

"How dare you create a false version of the people I love! Of the people I care for?" the Doctor said. Some of the people walking around began to notice the commotion.

"Oh dear. You've either gotten sentimental in your old age," mused the Master, almost to himself, and then he added "or you're _guilty._ "

The Doctor said nothing.

"Oh, yes. It's guilt dancing on your young face," the Master said, whistling. He leaned closer to the Doctor, and his eyes were filled with malevolent delight.

"I'm right, aren't I? Don't lie to me—I know you too well for that. I don't know why, but smething about this place makes your insides burn," said the Master.

"So, are you going to spend all day talking to us?" asked Donna, trying to find some way to interrupt this tirade.

The Master's eyes flashed with venom, and she could tell that he didn't like that he had just been interrupted. She ignored the look, and grabbed the Doctor's sleeve.

"Let's find our way out of here," said Donna.

The Master only chuckled, and called out "Actually, I was going to show you out. Don't want you and your pet mucking things up. But now I think it will be much more fun keeping you here. Till next time, my dear Doctor."

Donna and the Doctor ran through the streets. She had no idea where she was going, but anywhere would be better than that man. She ended up crashing into someone.

"Watch where you're going, young miss!" said the man. His red jacket flapped in the breeze.

The Doctor helped her up. He flashed her a smile, which Donna knew was a lie.

"Are we gonna do something about that guy with the goatee?" Donna asked the alien. He shook his head.

"I already did, in another life. I know where the TARDIS is now, I think," he said. He walked through the crowds, ignoring the beggar on the side, and the children playing on the steps, and the man giving away some sort of food at the side of the road. Normally, the Doctor would have at least waved at some people. It was like the Doctor was doing his utter best to ignore everyone there.

Donna did her utter best to keep up with the Doctor, carrying of long strips of meat on a stick.

. "Are you sure you want to eat that? You don't even know what part of the monnolipth that comes from. You don't even know what a monnolipth is, do you?" asked the Doctor.

"Well, it tastes great, so I don't care," said Donna.

The alien gave her a side-eye glance, and muttered "Well, if you knew what it was, you'd realize why it was free."

Donna glared at the man, and waved a piece of meat in his face. He shook his head, and stopped walking.

Donna and the Doctor were in a grassy field. In front of them was a stone.

"Where are we?" asked Donna.

"The local museum," said the Doctor.

"There's not a lot of exh-" started Donna.

Suddenly, the area changed. The stone began to grow, until it envoleped both of them. For a second, all Donna could see was grey stone. Then she heard a grinding noise, and the stone receded.

What was uncovered was rows and rows of TARDISes. They all looked like identical blue boxes.

"Ah. One final joke from the Master," said the Doctor.

It took hours to find out which TARDIS was the real one. When they finally entered the right one, Donna swore she would strangle the Master if she ever met him.

Her alien friend was collapsed in a chair. His eyes stared off in the distance, and Donna felt tired just looking at him.

"Hey, Doctor. Are you okay?" said Donna.

The Doctor nodded, and said "Yep. Right as rain. Let's go somewhere sunny, alright?"

Donna knew better than to let him get away with a quick quip this time. She was placed her hand on his shoulder. It felt surprisingly tense under her hand, belying his real mood.

"Yes, I'm okay. Well...I think I'll be okay later. But I need time. Just let me go somewhere sunny this time, alright," said the Doctor, almost pleadingly. He seemed to be asking himself as much as her.

"As sunny as you want," said Donna.

"Good," said the Doctor. Even though his expression didn't change, his shoulder relaxed under her hand.

As he began to input new coordinates into the TARDIS, Donna thought of something.

"What part of the milipoth-thingie was I eating earlier?" asked Donna.

A grin spread over the Doctor's face, and he told her.

The TARDIS was soon filled with sounds of a very scared Doctor running from a very angry (and embarrassed) Donna.


End file.
